1. Field of the Invention
Method and means to promptly bring about a strongly burning nest of charcoal briquets in a very short time are set out herein. A very distinguishing feature of the present invention is comprized in the fact that the predominant process of this type of firemaking is the powerful, very rapid, and intensely hot combustion of the charcoal itself. Because the main feature of my firestarting is the burning of charcoal, or other solid carbonaceous fuel (including but not limited to wood, peat, coal, bakelite and other infusible combustible plastics), and because the combustion of auxiliary starting fuel is negligible by comparison to the activity of the charcoal or other carbonaceous fuel, the fiery beginning brought about by my new firestarter/firebuilder is largely within the fuel being lit, and dangerous flames and sparks do not emerge into the environment, as is the case with other firestarters and carbonaceous fuel lighting methods.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art is well illustrated by a number of older U.S. Pat. Nos. such as: Allen, 58,567, October 1866; Lubelsky, 1,882,365, October 1932; Neukirch, 2,000,414, May 1933; Rick et al, 2,217,994, October 1940; Leggin, 2,876,084, March 1959; Lloyd, 3,953,443, September 1960; Fearon, 3,252,770; and Markowitz, 3,293,187. Also, there are a number of items currently in the market, many of which are unpatented. This portion of the art includes, among other things, charcoal briquets of altered manufacture which can be lit by a match or by a cigarette lighter directly, and then employed to ignite other charcoal briquets of the ordinary sort. Cardboard containers with an oxidizing agent in the spaces between the cellulose fiber can still be found, or, if desired, made up by an operator who soaks the container in a rich warm water solution of potassium nitrate and then dries it. Crumpled newspaper, sticks containing paraffin wax, and other sorts of readily ignited auxiliary fuels such as petroleum naphtha are generally available.
With the exception of my own U.S. Pat. No. 3,252,770 May 1966, all the workers of the prior art have failed to properly address the basic problem of firestarting. To make a fire there are three entities necessary, and all three must be present in the same space at the same time. These entities are: a fuel that can burn in air, heat applied to the fuel sufficient to raise its temperature above the ignition point, and availability of oxygen of the air in immediate contact with the heated fuel. If the total amount of fuel so ignited can add heat energy more rapidly than it loses the heat energy, a fire will progress. This last is really a codicil to the requirement for a combustible fuel, hereinabove set out. The distinction of the herein invention over U.S. Pat. No. 3,252,770 of May 24, 1966 will be apparent later in this description.
The devices and methods of the prior art all provide the fuel, and the heat, but deny access of atmospheric oxygen to the fuel while it is being heated. Therefore the devices and methods of the prior art function capriciously. In general, the devices of the prior art are interfered with by stacking charcoal over them. By contrast the device of this invention, and the device of my 1966 invention are not interfered with by the charcoal. In fact the device of the present invention relies upon the charcoal presence and cooperates with charcoal in establishing a substantial combustion process quickly.
I now mention, obviously out of normal sequence, a diagram I have prepared to explain the principles spelled out in the above paragraph as they apply to my herein firestarter/firebuilder. The diagram shows the essential principle of the herein invention and adds a greater understanding of the term pyrogenerative, which will be dealt with shortly.
There are seen in the market from time to time variations of the pyrotechnic art already well represented in the older patents. All these are dangerous and work essentially like auxiliary fuels do, denying the fuel to be lit good access to atmospheric oxygen because of the large volume of gaseous products (carbon dioxide, water vapor, etc.) which these explosive devices produce. Very often, such pyrotechnic items plaster the fuel to be lit with alkali hydroxides or inert salts, which are, in their own way, fire extinguishing materials. All such undesirable effects are avoided by using the firestarter/firebuilder of this specification, which is absolutely safe, even in very large models. It is safe to use more such starters over and over in difficult ignition problems (such as wet brush). The re-use of volatile hydrocarbons is a frequent source of burn casualties. The device herein described cannot explode in any sort of use, and never causes burn casualties. Because the feedback loop of the diagram of figure five corresponds with temperatures in excess of 2500 degrees fahrenheit, users are well warned and have time to move their hands. Nobody gets burned, and the fuel is lit in a few seconds!